Friday, February 20, 2015

Preserving
significant historic homes and the stories they can tell is important
work in the field of historic preservation. House museums, however,
are one of the great challenges of the field because they introduce
funding challenges not experienced when a home is in continued
private use or repurposed for contemporary needs. And rarely are
historic house museums of the level of significance that will attract
all their necessary funding through visitor revenue in order to be
self-supporting.

HBI
staff recently received a behind the scenes look at the Gibson
House Museum, and participated in a discussion with some of its
board members on the challenges of last year with representatives of
the this historic treasure in Boston’s Back Bay.

Built
in 1860, the Gibson House was designed by noted Boston architect
Edward Clarke Cabot in the Italian Renaissance style with an
exterior of brownstone and red brick. Three generations of the Gibson
Family lived in the house before it was turned into a museum in 1957.
The widowed Catherine Hammond Gibson commissioned the house
and soon after passed it on to her son, Charles Hammond Gibsonwho
in 1871 married Rosamond Warren and brought her to live there.
Rosamond was from a very distinguished Boston family and after
Catherine's death in 1888 redecorated the house with Japanese
wallpapers.

The
Gibson family home was then passed to Charles and Catherine’s son,
Charles Hammond Gibson, Jr. who, as early as 1936 decided to preserve
the home as a museum. He was known to have roped off many areas of
the home to prevent guests from sitting on the furniture. He even
resisted any temptation to modernize the kitchen choosing to eat his
meals outside of the house. The interior is filled with an abundance
of the Gibson Family original furnishings including elegant
wallpapers, furniture with original fabric, imported carpets,
paintings, sculpture, photographs, silver, porcelain, curios, and
other nineteenth-century family heirlooms.

In 2001 the Gibson
House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
This designation is attributed to its being the only Victorian era
row house in Boston's Back Bay to maintain the integral relationship
between the design of the exterior shell and the original interior
plan along with its accompanying decorative schemes. The completeness
of the original furnishings compliments this distinction and enriches
the story and therefore the experience for visitors to the museum.

While the
preservation of museum houses, like the Gibson House, is important
and their stories are worthy of preservation, interpretation and
funding, it is distinctly different from preservation that adapts
historic buildings for contemporary uses.

When HBI takes on a
redevelopment project for a historic residential structure it is with
the intent of it remaining a residential use whereby people live in
it with all the modern conveniences they expect for contemporary
lifestyles. By way of example, the Kittredge House recently
rehabilitated by HBI was originally designed for and occupied by
Alvah Kittredge and his family as a private residence.
However, by the time HBI acquired it, the house had been so
significantly reconfigured and badly damaged over the years there was
virtually nothing left to preserve as a museum people would tour. It
was, however, an excellent opportunity to preserve the exterior
features and some of the significant interior features that remained,
while turning the mansion into an economically viable multi-family
residential building.

This
redevelopment approach for a property allows a developer to take
advantage of state and federal historic tax credits as a primary
finance mechanism in the funding structure for a rehabilitation
project. There is a 20% federal income tax credit for the substantial
rehabilitation of commercial (income-producing) properties that are
listed on the National Register of Historic Places. These properties
may be individually listed or may be in a locally designated historic
district that has been certified by the National Park Service. Many
states, such as Massachusetts, have a companion rehabilitation tax
credit for historic properties that can be layered with the federal
tax credit. States vary in their requirements, and many allow for
private homes and other structures (such as barns) to receive state
historic income tax credits for rehabilitation.

The
criteria for utilizing the federal tax credit, however, limit the
type of projects which qualify for their use. Since, in the case of a
museum home already in operation, the property is owned by a
non-profit entity that would likely continue to own the property
after rehabilitation, it would not quality. The property would
essentially have to be sold and repurposed by a different owner which
would defeat the purpose of the property and the mission of the
non-profit owning it.

For
museum houses, this means finding other ways to generate revenue for
maintenance, repairs, and capital improvements – not so easy when
the generating of funds does not include the steady and more
traditional rental income from tenants. First of all, it’s best to
have an endowment established up front if a property is donated or
purchased for museum purposes. This is the soundest means of
establishing long-term economic sustainability for operating
expenses, repairs and maintenance, and more extensive capital
improvements. But if an endowment is not in place or has been
significantly depleted over time, the organization needs to look to
alternative sources.

Non-profit
museums like the Gibson House rely more on charitable donations and
capital grants, in addition to their memberships and entrance fees
which can provide some financial base with a degree of stability and
predictability. But, the competition is often high for these
charitable dollars and the size and uniqueness of these properties
draws on a small pool of potentially interested members and visitors
often leaving a shortfall in budgets. So other creative approaches
must be considered.

In
the case of the Gibson House, they have found ways to host events
such as theatrical performances, fundraisers, benefits, and talks by
authors and the museum curator on various topics of interest using
the house and grounds as both physical and narrative backdrop. There
is a nominal charge for these events and they are a great way to
spend an evening or weekend afternoon.

Our
visit emphasized how important it is to support local museums like
the Gibson House with contributions and regular visits. But it also
reinforces the educational benefit received from places like this.
If you’d like to see a real “Downton Abbey” or “Upstairs
Downstairs” in Boston, the Gibson House provides the real thing and
helps to tell the story of Boston’s social history and the
interdependency of wealthy with not-so-wealthy people. It also
provides a demonstration house for 19th century design and
decoration. Museum houses do need to be creative to survive, but
they also need to stay connected to their public educational mission
in order to stay relevant to those who would donate and those who
will visit.

And
that’s our pitch to you: please support the Gibson House and other
publicly accessible house museums in Boston. These are important
cultural treasures that continually face funding challenges. Become a
member, attend an event, and don’t forget them in their annual
campaigns.